


Path of Thorns

by ElizabethWilde



Series: Strange Bedfellows [2]
Category: Bloody Roar
Genre: Action, Drabble, Drama, Gen, Songfic, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-07-27
Updated: 2002-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-05 22:17:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1834156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethWilde/pseuds/ElizabethWilde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Busuzima kidnaps Long, Jenny goes to his rescue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Path of Thorns

"The best thing you've ever done for me is to help me take my life less seriously-it's only life after all." ~Indigo Girls 'Closer to Fine'

Long returned to Jenny's bathroom hoping for another shower but ended up kneeling over her toilet, stomach churning. He'd heard others complain about hangovers, but this was the only firsthand experience he'd suffered. "Thank you, Jenny." Suddenly pain flared red at the base of his skull and Long slid to the floor.

"Well, well... not the lovely I'd hoped for," Busuzima mused quietly, "but he'll do for bait."

\----------------------------------------------

Jenny entered her apartment, tired and wanting a steaming shower... alone if necessary. "How's the hangover?" she called into the relative darkness. When no answer came, Jenny frowned. "Long?" She moved toward the bedroom, seeing the bathroom light on. "Singh, you in there? Feeling okay?"

The hair on Jenny's neck stood on end. No one home, lights on, doro unlocked. Long hadn't left voluntarily. A marker lay on the white comforter of her bed, and when Jenny threw it back, a note was scrawled on the sheet.

//Hey there, gorgeous.  
I have your toy.  
I'm in the warehouse  
if you want to play.  
-Busuzima//

"Dammit!" Jenny felt her muscles tense with anger. She had wiped the floor with the psychotic scientist before, but it had been some time since circumstances called for above-average fighting. "This is what I get for relaxing. And picking up strange guys in bars. Dammit!"

She changed quickly, donning black spandex pants and a matching top and braiding her long hair. "Get ready, ugly, cuz here I come."

\---------------------------------------------------

"Finally awake, I see!"

Head throbbing, Long raised his gaze painfully to see Busuzima's bizarre grin far closer than he'd have liked. "Wh-why?" As feeling returned, Long realized his arms were chained to the ceiling, his feet to the floor. And he still wore only black silk boxers.

"Nothing personal. I just figure that delectable Jenny will follow her fucktoy. Then I'll have her."

Even though his body registered enough pain to make rational thought difficult at best, Long asserted, "I'm not her 'fucktoy,' nor has she any reason to follow me here."

"How naÔve do you think I am, Long?" Busuzima snapped impatiently. "I find you in her apartment in your underwear nursing a hangover and you want me to believe you are... what? Just friends?" He laughed maniacally. "Please!" He sounded angry now, bitter. "Why wouldn't she want a big handsome guy like you? Well, I intend to make someone less biased." He gestured to an impressive array of coffin-like incubators, vats of liquid, and odd machinery. "ShenLong was an unfortunate mistake. He was... flawed." Busuzima laughed again. "What this place needs is a woman's touch."

"No problems touching the place," Jenny called from the doorway, "but touching you is another subject entirely." Small, strained smile on her lips, Jenny advanced, hips swaying. "So how are we going to play this? Do you give me Long or do I tear your ugly face off and take him anyway?"

Busuzima leered, practically drooling as he watched her approach. "All I need is a little sample of your DNA and Tiger Boy is free to go. Sound fair?"

"No. Fair is you dead for those you've killed," Jenny answered softly. "Fair is no one ever being tortured by you again, hurt by your 'experiments'." Her glanced flicked briefly to Long and she frowned. "Hand him over or die. No compromise."

"Ooooh, I love that fire! Your eyes glow!" Clapping his hands like a child on Christmas morning, Busuzima danced from foot to foot. "Come get me, momma!"

Lip curled in disgust, Jenny stepped closer, dropping to the floor and rolling to the side when Busuzima morphed into his chameleon form. Seconds later, Jenny's alternate self, the bat, also appeared, leathery patched covering only snippets of her curvaceous form. She reached for her opponent's ankle, pulling him onto the floor and sinking sharp fangs into his scaly neck. Jenny recoiled and released him when she heard Busuzima moan in what she assumed was pleasure. 

Spitting blood onto the concrete floor, Jenny kicked the chameleon hard in the crotch, smirking at his screech of pain. He punched her hard in the stomach and Jenny doubled over with a groan. She felt the sting of a needle in her arm and kicked with all her might, cursing. Her foot connected, sending Busuzima skidding across the floor.

Squealing with delight, Busuzima clutched his prize and ran fro the back exit. Jenny began to give chase, but one look at Long chained and pale made her reconsider. Shedding her wings for spandex, Jenny grabbed the keys-left conveniently nearby.

"You should follow him," Long protested weakly.

"And leave you here? Uh-uh."

"He has your blood."

Jenny frowned and pulled Long's arm over her shoulder for the second time in twenty-four hours. "I know." After easing Long into a chair, Jenny grabbed another metal office chair and began smashing equipment. "This should delay him at least." When she turned back, Long was shaking his head.

"Too easy. This is a front. Real lab's somewhere else." Long held his head and winced.

"Damn. You're right. I'm fucked." She hoisted Long. "We're going home."

"But-"

"We're going home."

\------------------------------------------

After Long took a lengthy shower and Jenny washed her bedding and showered as well, she made a quick dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches. "Wolfgang Puck I'm not, but at least it's food."

Long nodded. "Thank you."

"Where were you staying before?"

Ignoring Jenny's obvious assumption that Long intended to stay in her apartment, he replied, "Wherever I could."

"Homeless then." She nodded. "I know you may not want to considering the hell I'm in for, but you can stay here. On the couch," she added as an afterthought despite its opposition to her fantasies. "Of course, you could always stay in my-"

"The couch will do nicely," Long cut in.

Jenny winked. "I can see you'll be a challenge. I love challenges."

Her new roommate actually smiled. "Then we shouldn't have any problems. Outside of your new clone and Busuzima, of course."

"Of course," Jenny replied dryly. "That's what's great about you, Singh. Unadulterated optimism."


End file.
